Lauren Polio is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Scottsdale Christian Academy for AZPreps365.com

John Anderson, Scottsdale Christian Academy alumnus and now head coach, first took over coaching the varsity team two years ago.

And in those two years, the team won back-to-back state 2A championships.

The team’s success, which in the last 20 years alone included state championships in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2019 and runner-up finishes in 2002 and 2020, has continued largely because of the core values the team aims to embrace, Anderson said. 

“I think the biggest thing that we did the first summer going into my first year – we really made it a point to talk about and drive home and define our culture,” Anderson said. “Who we are as a team, who we are as a program, what are the values that we have, and what are we striving for.”

Passion. Thankfulness. Servanthood. Accountability and trust. These are the five core values that the basketball program. According to SCA assistant varsity basketball coach Paul Clark, these core values have played into the team's success.

“It’s why we do what we do and how we do it, using the scheme that we all love and spend a lot of time with, using it to help kids grow as young adults and then in their faith through our school,” Clark said. “Our faith is our bottom line, so everything we do, all those core values, everything we teach it starts with Jesus and it ends with Jesus. I think by having that mindset, I’m not saying that that’s helped us win, but I think that we have been blessed because we put our focus on the right thing.”

After year one, Anderson said he knew that they had to come back the next year and return to their process after losing phenomenal players and only returning with two starters.

He emphasized that he never goes into the season telling his players that the goal is to win a state championship. But instead, to focus on trusting the process and maximizing their potential.

“What we try to do is focus on the process," Anderson said. "If you work on your process and you're continually growing, your hope is that at some point, you're reaching the potential that is capable of winning a state championship. For us, it’s that daily practice, that daily process that you go through.”

Senior starting point guard Michael Fan said the culture has had an impact on the team.

“The culture that we built in the program belongs to my coaches for instilling that in us and having that around the team just made it an even more fun experience for us,” Fan said. “Our coaches would talk about each value from the start, and throughout the season we would work on it through our play on and off the court and that built the culture and when everyone buys into that we’ve become pretty successful from that.”

After winning their second championship in as many years this past season, the Eagles begin their third year under Anderson, hoping to keep maximizing their potential and trusting the process. The team kicks off its season against Wickenburg Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m.

“Here we are again, year three,” Anderson said. “Now, it almost becomes tougher because it’s like you’ve done it twice your expectation are like, ‘Alright are they going to do it again?’ You’ve kind of set the expectation. It’s tough. But if we go in with a goal of winning state, we’re gonna make it tough on ourselves. We’re going in going, ‘We need to keep our culture strong.’ It’s how we play, it’s how we practice, it’s how we live out our lives in the locker room and off the court. If we’re focusing on that, then we’ve got a better chance at winning state than we do if winning state is just our goal.”